This was inspired by/adapted from a blogpost called “Rethinking Communion” by Christina Cleveland, which used to be found at http://www.christenacleveland.com/2014/07/re-thinking-communion, but seems to have disappeared. It is intended for use with multiple voices. I hope Dr. Cleveland doesn’t mind that she has inspired me. Please credit her if you use this.)
Leader: God be with you.
People: And with you.
Leader: Yes, God with us, in a meal, in an embrace of humanness and a grasp of divine-ness. Communion, a meal of faith, which calls us back to our roots, back to our brother Jesus, dead from the struggle, but alive in this community, a community that, like the cross, should be a critique of unequal power structures in our homes, churches, neighborhoods and societies.
1. Communion is supposed to represent the cross-cultural solidarity of the cross, yet we practice it within the not-so-cross-cultural safety of our homogenous church groups.
o What if communion were me sitting on my Rastafarian neighbor’s back porch, listening to reggae, and hearing about his week?
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
2. Jesus death was costly, ugly, and self-sacrificial, yet we commemorate it in a painless and convenient way.
o What if communion were making a sacrificial gift — the kind that seriously hurts the checking account or invades the dayplanner, the kind that seriously heals the soul?
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
3. Communion first happened at the welcoming, open and inclusive table of Jesus, yet we “take it” in the most segregated hour of our lives.
o What if communion were leaving my turf (like Jesus did) and entering a world of people that look, talk, think or act different from me?
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
4. If the cross is about reconciling us to God and reconciling us to each other, why does our practice of communion often ignore the “one another” part?
o What if communion were taking a loaf of bread and bottle of wine, and showing up at the door of someone I’d hurt – or someone who had hurt me?
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
5. If communion is supposed to represent the battle for justice that occurred on the cross, then why do we compartmentalize it, calling it an act of piety but divorcing it from justice work both inside and outside the church community?
o What if communion were drinking Arizona iced tea and eating Skittles, and talking about how Jesus wants justice for young black men and we should too.
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
6. If the cross is a critique of power, then why doesn’t our practice of communion critique it as well?
o What if communion were shared in the hall outside the governor’s office, passing around a loaf and a cup while we speak up about the damage being done to our common life?
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
7. If communion is a holy microcosm of our life together, then why do we celebrate the abundant gifts of God while we know that so many of our neighbors today will have no dinner, no water, no shelter?
o What if communion were in deciding, as a church community, that no one in our community would live below the poverty level…and then putting our money where our mouths are?
§ Do this in remembrance of me.
8. What if communion were showing up at a protest and taking on issues that are not at all like my own?
o What if communion were earnestly and painfully taking steps to abdicate my privilege?
§ What if communion were shutting up, so that other voices can be heard?
All: do this in remembrance of me.
In the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: take and eat. This is my body. Do this to remember me.
After supper, he took a cup of wine, blessed it, and passed it around to them all, saying: drink this, all of you. This is a new way, a new covenant, for which my blood will be spilled. And maybe yours to. Do this to remember me.
And so we do.
We eat, drink, remember. Let’s pray.
Let this bread and wine be your power and spirit for us, O God, and let us be your world-changing people. Bless this meal and bless this people. amen.